Hillary Clinton on Wednesday made what she stressed was a “hypothetical” case for what a secretary of state could bring to the presidency, namely a unique understanding of how other countries see America.

Clinton, a possible 2016 presidential candidate, spoke in Edmonton, Canada, where she was promoting her new memoir, “Hard Choices.” As she responded to a “hypothetical” question about running for president, she described her experience as secretary of state, noting that she gained a fresh perspective on how foreign countries view the U.S.

“Now, there will be some Americans who claim that they don’t care, who claim that it’s not important,” she said. “But many Americans will be given pause because they don’t think about how everything that happens in our political system is perceived and influences events everywhere else.”

Clinton continued, “So bringing that perspective — there have been a couple people before me, who have been secretary of state, who have run for president. I think that is a different perspective because you spend a concentrated period of time listening to people on the outside.”

Clinton noted, for example, that situations such as the debt ceiling fights and the government shutdown undermined views of America abroad.

She also addressed a wide range of issues during the stop, from the killing of Osama bin Laden to ways the U.S. and Canada can cooperate on energy and climate change.

With regard to the capture of Ahmed Abu Khatallah, a suspected leader of the 2012 attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, Clinton said, “to say I’m delighted would be understating it.”

But she also stressed her support for prosecuting Khatallah in federal court, rather than in a military setting at Guantánamo Bay.

“That’s an absolutely necessary decision,” she said, noting that debates over the use of Guantánamo often crop up with some members of Congress. “We have a really good record of trying terrorists in federal courts.

“… I’m pleased we’ve captured him. I’m pleased he’s going to be tried in federal court,” she continued, adding that the investigation could yield more names of suspects in the attacks. “It’s a necessary first step — it may not be the only step.”

Clinton, who was secretary of state during the attacks in Benghazi, has come under fire over the incident from conservatives. On Tuesday, she said that too many unanswered questions remain about the attacks.

When she testified before Congress last year, Clinton famously snapped, with regard to repeated Republican grilling over what motivated the attackers, “What difference, at this point, does it make?”

She used a variation of that line on Wednesday, though in a very different context.

Clinton said that in her long political career, she has learned the importance of drawing connections between events happening abroad and at home. “Like, what difference does it make if the economy in Athens, Greece, collapses, to people living in Athens, Georgia? Or Athens, Ontario, for that matter.”